I Am What I Am
by iantolondontai
Summary: With a self punishment gone awry, the once Timelord is left without a memory in an unknown world and without any clue as to how he arrived or even who he is! Unexpectedly, he ends up saving Captain Jack Harkness who takes it upon himself to help the man
1. Chapter 1

The orange sky seemed to have grown dark through the cracked glass of the dome and the beautifully sculpted buildings that showed signs of crumbling over the passing times. At every corner, a Dalek would be seen taking the life from an unsuspecting passerby, and he had had enough.

He used to be a warrior of Gallifrey not so long ago, serving alongside many, many other soldiers. The battles that went on, however, had left them fewer in numbers and many injured. It was during those times that he had risked his life for his home, his family, and his fiancé. It was so that they would keep the most beautiful place, the place they had once called home, on the world they had lived on. That was then.

Now, they were gone now. The Daleks were winning and he had never felt so lost and afraid in his entire life. He was alone, everything he had fought for long gone, and now what was left of his home was a slowly dying planet. He looked though the glass, up into the sky, remembering what he was it and it only angered him. A Timelord! A child of Gallifrey, capable of doing so many things, so many and yet he couldn't bring them back. WHAT WAS THE USE OF HIM? WHAT WAS THE POINT?

He wanted to die in order to be with them but he didn't deserve death. He had failed them and even if he did kill himself, he couldn't bring himself to face them. So, he decided to do the one thing that was right. He would leave Gallifrey to fall.

It was no longer his home. It held too many memories that had died with them and he would go far away from the wretched memories. He would go somewhere new, somewhere where no one would know him or what he was, and he would change and forget them. It was not because he wanted to but because he had to. As his own punishment, he would forget them so that he would always walk with a giant hole where his hearts should be, walk with a horrible guilt and not know for what it was for, walk with the distinct expression that he would never find out and never heal.

He took one last look at the crumbling planet before climbing into the Tardis. He walked to the controls, pushed and pulled and spun things, not caring were they would land. As long as it would take him far away, he would be satisfied.  
>Suddenly, the roar and hum of the Tardis began and everything began to shake. As the ship began to rock, he started to prepare for wherever and whenever it would take him.<p>

His destination wasn't too far off when things began to go wrong with an unexpected jerk. The dials seemed to be going out of control and things began to rock fearfully. He yelled and tried to hold on to something but only managed to slide around the floor. After a few fretful minutes, the Tardis finally stopped and he was able to walk over to the controls. Sighing, he pondered if it was the Tardis that made the decision to bring him here or if it was something else. Clearing these thoughts from his head, he moved a dial to make a perfect disguise for the Tardis and programmed her to lock itself once he had left her. He took a quick glance at his surrounding before slipping the key into his pocket. Then, he pulled out his silver fob watch and placed it into the slot of the machine. He knew that in order to do this right, he needed to have someone with him. But, considering his situation, he would have to make do with what he had.

The Tardis would be able to help him on what he was about to do so that he would still be able to walk out with everything intact. Well, almost everything. He made sure to take everything that was important to him before slipping the chameleon. The process was painful and slow but it did what it needed to do efficiently.

New images began to replace his old memories, allowing him to forget the past he so sought to escape in order to adapt to his new surroundings. The process had been nearly completed when the Tardis yanked the machine off of him and shoved the fob watch into his hands. With trembling legs, he barely managed to make it out of the warmth of the Tardis and meet the cold new world, before his whole entire body ached and screamed in pain. He continued though, knowing he would only have mere moments to gain some distance and forget everything entirely. He hadn't made it very far before his own legs refused to carry him any further. Collapsing on the ground, he allowed sleep to take him, hoping that everything would be better the next time he opened his eyes.

~*~ -

He couldn't have guessed how long he had been lying there, nor did he have a clue as to why he was there to begin with. His head was pounding, spinning in fact, and his body was screaming from excruciating pain. The pain was so great that it became difficult to keep his eyes open. A desire to sleep, to rid the pain, almost overwhelmed him. But, from a distance, he could hear someone yelling and struggling with someone or something else. Somewhere in that daze he knew that he had to do something to help. He grabbed hold of the closest thing and hoped it was useful.

Chapter 1

It was just suppose to be another weevil hunt. Unfortunately, it was anything but that. He found himself being pinned to the ground by the damn thing, struggling to keep the creature from ripping out his throat. If only he could reach his gun, yet if he made the attempt, the monster would surely get him. Alternatively, just sitting there and doing nothing wasn't ideal either. Just as he was about to reach for it, something or someone got the weevil to get off of him.

Jack looked up to see a handsome young man struggling with the weevil. It wasn't a common occurrence, a dashing knight arriving to your aid; well not if it was him doing the saving. He quickly got to his feet and tackled the weevil in order to sedate it. But, it wasn't before the weevil knocked the man's head against the tree and pinned his poor savior against it. He quickly looked at the young man to see him panting, leaning against the tree. "Thanks," he muttered.  
>"No, thank you," Jack replied as he studied the man before him. "I'm fine thanks to you."<p>

"Good," he said as he made his way towards Jack. "Good…You're, um …ah." He reached out for Jack's neck but quickly dropped his hand when Jack stepped away, out of his reach. For some reason, he felt guilty that the he had pulled away. The disappointment and confusion in the man's eyes only made it worse. "You were bleeding," the other man explained hesitantly.

"Had worse from shaving," Jack said quickly.

Turning his attention to the weevil, the man seemed to have ignored Jack as he studied the beast with rapt attention. He took a few steps closer to it before stumbling a bit. Tilting his head to the side, he muttered, "I can't be certain but I think I've seen this before. Somewhere…" He quickly shook his head and groaned, "No. No, I must be seeing things."  
>Jack paused in his rather inappropriate thoughts of the stranger, a sudden wariness arising from what had just come out of the gorgeous man's mouth. His smile faded. The tone of the air had changed. He didn't take his eyes of the man in front of him as he said, "Yeah, maybe." There was no emotion in Captain Harkness' voice despite the forced smile on his face. Ianto knew that the Captain could sense something was wrong. No one outside of Torchwood knew what a weevil was. Jack stayed calm as he watched the man's confused face." I'll take him from here." he said as hauled the weevil over his shoulder. "Thanks for the assistance, um…" He looked at the man one more time before asking, "Sorry, I never got your name."<p>

The man's confused look because a panicked daze. "My name?" he repeated. "Um, ah,"

"It's okay, I get it. You don't have to tell me your name," Jack said with a quick smile. "You can be the mysterious savior, I don't mind." The smile quickly faded when he saw the man's hands begin to shake. "Hey, are you alright?"

The man didn't reply, but instead, collapsed onto the floor. Jack quickly put the weevil down and rushed to the man's side, "Hey, hey! Wake up!" Jack yelled as he shook the man. "Come on, open your eyes!" But the man didn't wake up and he got the feeling that the young man wasn't kidding around. "Shit," Jack swore as he pulled out his cell phone. Just as he was about to dial for help, he heard his name being called out.

Jack looked up to find his team running toward him. "OWEN! I NEED YOU TO LOOK OVER HIM!" he yelled out to the only other man on the team. As Owen reached them, Jack stepped aside to let the man do his job and walked over to the other two members. "Do any of you want to tell me what's going on?"

"There was a spick on the Rift monitor. Something came out of the rift," said Tosh, keeping her gaze at the man Owen was attending to, not even bothering to look up to meet her boss' eyes.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"We did. You never answered you cell," Suzie replied quickly.

"Then you might have called when I was fight off that weevil," Jack said as he looked at his cell and noticed three missed calls. "So any luck finding whatever came through?"

"We found nothing," Tosh responded as she glanced at her hand-held. "Whatever it was, it's gone by now with no trace except rift residue."

~*~ -

Jack got them back to the hub as fast as he could to check over the man as he put away the weevil. When he got back from the cells, Owen had already set up the new arrival in the med lab. "How is he?" he asked.

"He's got a concussion and a few scratches. Other than that, I can't find anything else wrong with him. We'll have to see if anything else is wrong when he wakes up. Well, 'IF' he wakes up," Owen said moodily as he glared at the computer screen. "Who is he Jack? He wasn't carrying any identification or anything. Why couldn't we just drop him off at a hospital or something? I mean, the bloke didn't get bit by the damn weevil."

"Before he passed out, he said something about recognizing the weevil," Jack replied truthfully as he stared at the man on the table. "And all I know about the man is that he saved me from becoming that thing's next meal."  
>"Jack, I ran his prints through the system and I've got nothing on him," Tosh said annoyed, interrupting the men's conversation. "There isn't a single trace of him anywhere. No police, school, hospital, or any record of any sort on this man. It's like he doesn't even exist."<p>

"Or maybe, he or someone went to a lot of trouble to make him invisible," Suzie offered.

"But that doesn't explain why he might recognize the weevil," Tosh replied quickly.

"Jack," Owen said softly as if he was still working out a thought. "It's been two week since the incident with ONE right?"  
>"Yeah, so?" Jack spat. He loathed everything that had to do with ONE. Their policy was always 'If it's alien, it's ours.' They even went as far as killing anything that wasn't human. As the leader of Torchwood THREE, Jack had made sure that the policy was never followed. It was for that very reason that the leader of ONE hated Jack as well.<p>

"What if he worked for ONE?" Owen suggested. "He could have been reconted and let go before then."

"Owen, you know as well as I that ONE never lets anyone leave," Jack said angrily. "Besides, Tosh has checked through all of ONE's personal files, even the eliminated ones, and found nothing."

"Maybe he was one of their experiments that got loose?" Suzie replied as she walked over to her station. She was currently Torchwood THREE's second in command and had been one of the longest members of the team, besides Jack of course. "There were a lot of those in ONE I recall. They didn't exist either. Most of them were created from the DNA of two willing downers rather than alien tech."

"It could explain why he was acting that way," Jack muttered to himself but loud enough for the others to hear.  
>"Acting in what way?"Suzie demanded as she made her way into the hub.<p>

"When I asked him for his name, he seemed so lost and confused as if he was trying to fight off a fog in his head," Jack recalled as he looked at the young man who was out cold. "Like, he couldn't remember."

"As I recall none of them survived," Owen replied. "Besides, all of them were accountable. Maybe he couldn't remember his name cause of the concoction?"

"Well we can't be sure," Tosh replied softly. "All those experiments were filed in paper, never in the mainframe, and most of those were lost to the fire."

"Maybe you're right," Owen replied as he began to look through the man's possessions. "He doesn't have much. I mean, look at this stuff. An old fob watch and a key is all this guy carried with him. I remember reading that the subjects could only keep a few items of their choosing since it helped them stay calm, grounded, after their testing was finished for the day. As for the clothes, he could have gotten them from anywhere. Yet, his body seems to have consistent signs of a struggle before tonight. There's some scarring but not like the others. It's possible that he may have put up more of a fight or could have been a total different subject."

"I think we're getting too ahead of ourselves," Jack said with a soft sigh. "Why don't we just wait for him to wake up? We'll question him then but in the meanwhile, why don't you guys go get some sleep?"

"I think sleep will have to wait. He's awake," Owen said tiresomely. He got the feeling that it was going to be a long time before any of them saw their beds.

~*~

His eyes fluttered open to find himself at an unknown place with a man in a white coat coming into his view. "How are you feeling?" the man asked him in a professional tone.

"Tired," he replied softly. "And my head hurts." He tried to sit up but was only pushed back down by another pair of hands.

"That's to be expected with the bump on you head. You're lucky you're not in coma or brain dead," the man in the white coat snarled. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Not really," he confessed, "It's sort of a haze. I can remember yelling, a man, someone or something attacking him… To tell you the truth, I don't think I was in the right of mind before then either."

"Why do you say that?"

"I …wait, who?" he asked as he took a good look at the man in front of him and then at his surroundings. Fear began to build in him as he noticed that he was on a cold table with cables attached to him. Machines and other strange devices surrounded him, further frightening him, as he realized he had no idea where he was. He had no idea what he was even doing there; let alone how he had gotten there. Panicked, he quickly started ripping the cables off as the man and someone else tried to hold him down. "Where am I? What is this?"

"Calm down," a familiar voice crooned, trying to get him to calm down, as a pair of arms held him still. "We were just trying to help. You need those to get better." Feeling overpowered, he resigned himself to the soothing voice and powerful arms.

"We're going to let you go but you have to promise to lie back down," the voice soothingly continued. "You hit your head pretty bad earlier and we want to make sure you're alright. Will you promise to behave?"

"Yes," his voice coming out more delicately than he would have liked.

"Okay," and true to their word, they let him go. Fulfilling his part of the bargain, he laid back down on the table.  
>The man in the coat began to tend to his wounds which were created as a result of his struggling. "Please don't put that back in me," he begged when the man was about to put the needle into his arm again. "Please."<p>

The man in the coat looked at sadly before pushing the needle under his skin, "I'm sorry, but it's help you. Though, I promise you that won't need it much longer."

"Okay, we're going to ask you a few questions that we need you to answer, alright?" the voice said calmly before the owner of it came into his view. He smiled as he saw the man from the other night.

"Hey," he said with a soft sigh of relief. He was glad there was someone he knew, even if their time together had been too brief to really know anything about him. Just the sight of a familiar face was enough to make him feel at ease. "You're alright. I couldn't remember if you got away since everything sort of feels like its scrambled and out of order, but I'm glad you're okay."

"All thanks to you gorgeous," the man said as he gave him one of the most charming smiles he had ever seen followed by a flirtatious wink. He couldn't help but blush at the man's comment and looked away to cease further embarrassment. Of course, that didn't stop him from turning a deeper shade of red as the man in the white coat snarled, "Stop harassing my patient Harkness! Poor bloke just woke up. Give him a chance to breath."

"Okay for starters, that man right there is Captain Jack Harkness and I'm Doctor Owen Harper," the man said, pointing at the charming man from earlier who was currently preoccupied by glaring at Owen, clearly upset at not being able to do his own introduction. Owen didn't seem to notice as he grabbed a clipboard and pen, preparing to jot down something. "Now that you know who we are, you can tell us who you are. Seeing how you're having trouble remembering anything, you think you can tell us your name at least?"

"My name, of course I can tell you my name," he said with a small chuckle. "It's ...it's …" The smile faded from his face. He place his hand over his eyes as he squeezed them shut, trying to focus. Yet the only thing that would come up was a scribble, as if he needed to get the feel of it first before he knew what it was. "I need something to write with and on. I know it's going to sound crazy but I need to write it down. It's like there in front of me but I can't seem to gasp it."

"What?" Owen asked, giving him a confused look, before looking at Jack for approval. Jack looked at him strangely before nodding.

It was until he had the odd device in his hand that he recognized it as a pen. As he proceeded to write, another thought struck him. He didn't know what most of what this room held, what it was called or what it even did. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever be able to identify them unless he touched them.

Gently, he pressed the pen on the paper and started to jot something down. While writing, a small smile appeared on his face. 'My name is," he began but that was as far as he got. Nothing else followed. No words or images or even scribbles came to mind. The pen dropped from his hands as he looked up to face the two men that had waited patiently. "I…I...I'm sorry," the words escaped from his mouth.

"Don't worry about it," Jack said soothingly as he gently placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze. "It'll come back to you. Right, Owen?"

"Yeah, just give it time," he said, quickly looking though the scans he had taken earlier. "It's probably from the hit on your head earlier. You'll get it back. Moving on, your age?"

"I don't know," he was stuck again. How old was he? He didn't even know. His height and weight were to be taken later because they want him to rest before proceeding to physical examinations.

Owen sighed as he took a good look at him, "You look to be at the age of 19 or 20. I can't be certain. Alright, what about home address?"

"I can't remember."

"Any family?"

"I …I'm not sure."

"Friends?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" he lashed out angrily. Nothing was coming back to him. Only images of people and objects kept flashing through his mind, empty images filled with nothing which he could name. No sounds or any familiarity of anything came with them. His head began to pound harder with every attempt to recall details of who he was, feeling increasingly lost as he realized how much he didn't know. Dread and hopelessness filled him, leaving him with little energy or willingness for anything. He just wanted all the questions to stop.

The room went quiet for a few seconds as both Doctor Harper and Capitan Harkness were staring at him with concern. Managing to piece himself back together temporarily, he quickly apologized, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. I'm just, just tired, and confused."

"It's understandable," the Captain said reassuringly as gripped his shoulder gently. Jack felt sorry for the man. He knew what it felt like to wake up without any memory of what occurred. But not knowing what happened to his friends, family, let alone his own name was just something he would never wish on any one. "You should get some rest. Just don't fall asleep. That wouldn't be good," the Capitan instructed as he looked around for anything to could occupy the man. Spotting something, he quickly picked up the closest thing to him. "Here, you can read this."

Doctor Harper snatched the magazine from the Capitan and threw it into a drawer. "Ah, not that. It's...it's boring," Owen awkwardly explained as he grabbed something else instead. "Here, read this." He shoved the paper to his coworker and walked away. The Capitan looked at it confused but handed it to him anyway, the man looking just as confused as he was.

"Um, this is the paper from three weeks ago," he explained softly, "Maybe it'll trigger something but I'll get you something else when I get back, okay?"

He nodded slowly before lying back down. The table was still cold but it would have to do for now. It wasn't like he had much choice on where he got to stay the night.

The room was too quiet for his liking and there was a constant humming in the background, giving the impression that something was always working in the place. The air smelled of trash and the dim lights gave it an eerie look. Despite these imperfections, he felt safe and tried to relax as best he could. He sighed and began to read. 


	2. Chapter 2

I am what I am Chapter 2

Jack

Jack took one last look at the young Welshman before taking his seat at the head of the table in front of his team. He had been lost in thought when he heard Suzie clear her throat. "Jack what are we going to do about him?"

"I can think of a few things," Jack said with sly smirk on his face, causing Tosh to give a small giggle, but everything went quiet again as soon as he gave a small shrug.

Before he got the chance to answer, Owen interrupted, "I say we retcon him and drop him off at some hospital. It's obvious that someone wanted to make him disappear. We've got enough troubles on our hands."

"Can't do that," Tosh protested rather quickly. To Jack, it was rather clear it troubled her that she couldn't figure out who the poor man was. He had to agree with her. He didn't want to leave the man like that, lost and confused, yet Owen did have a point. "We don't even know if he has a place to stay."

"That's not our problem!" Owen snapped back. "He's not a lost dog. We can't keep him Tosh."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"Now kids, you know better than to fight," Jack teased.

"I think Owen is right, "Suzie said softly. "We don't know who he is, if he's dangerous or not. All we know is that he knows something that he's not supposed to know. If he can't remember his name, he might not remember anything at all."

"There is always the chance he can remember," Jack said, trying to sound just at ease as he was earlier but the sense of discomfort was still there. Jack couldn't help but think of what the young man could do if he managed to get his memory back. "Employees of ONE are not to be taken lightly, even less if he really was one of ONE's projects."

"We don't know whether he is a project or not!" Tosh protested, "If he is a project, why come to Cardiff? We can't just jump to conclusions because he might recognize a weevil."

"The scarring on his body matches with the damages on the others. He's the same body build type that ONE projects are," Suzie argued as she slammed her hand on the table.

"Look, Tosh is right. We don't know anything about the man," Jack interrupted. "And we have no real proof that he is either. There is nothing we can do till we're sure. Owen, run some scans. Tosh, set him up somewhere where we can keep an eye on him."

"What exactly are we going to do, follow him everywhere he goes? He's eventually going to see one of us and know that something is up. There are only so many of us," Suzie stated as she made her way to the glass wall. Looking at the med bay, she could see the Welshman folding the paper neatly."He's taking things too calmly, don't you think? He hasn't questioned what this is yet or demanded to be let go or anything."

"I think he has other things in mind, with his memory and all," Owen replied quickly as he got to his feet. It was obvious to him the he had lost the battle of getting rid of the man. "Tell me what you have decided Harkness because I have to make sure he doesn't fall back asleep."

"I think he should stay."

"Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?" Owen snarled back. "Only you would go as low as to try to get into a broken man's pants."

"You know me, never miss an opportunity when you get one," Jack said, giving his signature Harkness' smile as he winked at Owen.

"You're sick in the head you know that?"

Jack chuckled as he got to his feet and made his way to the door," He'll have to stay here until we figure out if he's harmful to anyone. Other than that, I'll stay with him tonight so you can all go home."

He rubbed his temples, relieving the pain for just a few seconds of bliss. His head wouldn't stop throbbing though. It was as if he had no room to think. He shut his eyes and tried to think, to focus, on the paper. News of what had gone about such as new robberies, the latest gadgets, and job openings filled the pages but none of that brought up his memory. They simply left him with more questions.

The Welshman sighed as he neatly folded the paper, trying to get the creases out. He was brought out of his thoughts as he felt a pair of eyes on him that sent chills running down his spine. Looking up, he could see a woman coldly staring at him. He slowly brought his head down, scared, and sensing something was not right with the way she was looking at him. He quickly went back to folding his paper neatly and didn't look up again. It wasn't long before the medic was back at his side, asking him if he felt dizzy. 

Doctor Harper checked him over before leaving the Captain with medication. "Give him one of these every three hours and don't try anything, Harkness."

"I'll behave," the captain said as he gave his biggest smile and wagged his eyebrows, "But I can't promise that he will." The comment made the young man blush and quickly look away from the two men. He didn't know why he had since it was only a joke with nothing else intended.

Jack pulled Owen's stool next to the bed before giving him another glance. "So, um, you feeling any better?" he asked rather quickly. The young man looked up, tilted his head, and gave a grunt for a response. It wasn't much but it was something. Jack closed his eyes and swallowed, even if his mouth was dry. If the man's voice made him squirm in his seat with just that sound he wondered what he would sound like in bed. Unfortunately, now was not the time for that. He cleared his throat before replying, "So I take that as a no then?"

Jack smiled softly, thinking of something to cheer the man up before saying. "I remember this one time I had so much to drink that I woke up on a different plan ...et ..." Even though the man looked slightly dazed, he seemed to be trying to catch every word that he was saying. Jack sighed as he reconsidered his story, "You know what, that's a story for another time."

They sat in the uncomfortable silence examining each other. Well, at least Jack was. He couldn't help but stare at the man and his rich brown hair that seemed to curl at the end of the tips. He wished that he could see the man's eyes again. He wouldn't look at Jack, choosing to fix his gaze at his own lovely hands.

Jack knew that the man's eyes were a gentle, gorgeous blue gray from earlier. A soft smile formed on his lips as he looked at the man's nose. It was a button-nose, and a very cute nose at that. It helped to soften the man's serious face just as it added character.

Jack's eyes wandered further down the young man's face. _Those lips_, he thought. The man had beautiful pink lips. _I bet that those lips are just as soft and warm as they are inviting, _Jack thought. It was when the man shifted that Jack broke from his thoughts.

He couldn't think of him like that, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't. The man was a possible threat and also, he was injured. His old self would have been careless and jumped him by now, but he wasn't that man anymore. Now he was Captain Jack Harkness, head of Torchwood Three. It meant that he had to sort out his priorities as best as he could, even if sometimes it was only the effort that counted.

"So what should I call you? I mean, we can't go around calling you 'hey, you' or something along those lines."

As soon as he said it, Jack wished he hadn't.

The man began to chuckle bitterly before saying, "I'd give anything to be called by my own name, but it's a shame I have nothing to offer."His voice was filled with sadness yet his face did not show any sign of it. Even so, Jack wished he had never brought it up. It had only brought an uncomfortable silence between them that was only broken when Jack started to hum a tune to himself.

The once Timelord felt a rush of guilt fly into him. He had not meant to sound mean or pathetic and he knew that the Captain was only trying to help but he had let his anger get the better of him. He was going to apologize when he heard the tune that was being hummed. He listened to him hum the song quietly. It was so familiar. Unknowingly, he began to tap his finger in time with the song. Soon, he began to hum along, images of instruments, vocalists, and of big, round, black disks being played on a sound box pulled themselves from his memory. It was then that the words began to form on his tongue and the urge to release them bade him to start singing.

"…_I'm gonna send a wire, hopping on a flyer,_

_(Leaving today )_

_Am I dreamin'? I can hear her screamin',_

_( Hi-ya, Mr. Jackson)_

_Everything's OK-A-L-A-M-A-Z-O_…"*

He was startled by the Captain's outburst in laughter, staring right at him with surprise. "It's been a long while since someone knows what I'm humming," he stated quickly, wearing a big smile as if he was remembering something that happened long ago. "How do you know it?"

"I must've heard it from somewhere," he replied softly. He was a little embarrassed that he had sung it out loud. "Recently, or something."

"I don't see how," Captain Jack said with soft chuckle, his expression changing to disappointment. "That song hasn't been played much anymore."

"Why is that?" he asked, his stomach beginning to turn. Every fiber of his being was telling him to cover his ears, to run, because he wasn't going to like the answer he was going to get.

The man looked at him with concern for a few seconds before replying. "Do you know what year it is?"

He raised his eyebrows, "I'd be surprised if I did know, in fact, I'd be ecstatic." He yawned softly before rubbing his eyes."Maybe some sleep would do me some good."

"Now, come on," The captain said as he cuffed his arm. "You know, that's the last thing you should be doing. Maybe in a few hours but right know I need you think. Where did you hear that song?"

"Well sir, it's a bit hard to not sleep when all you want to do is sleep. I mean, it's early in the morning and not a lot of people are up at this hour," he replied softly before yawning. The drowsiness that had slowly been consuming him suddenly dissipated when he felt a pair of strong hands cup his face.

"I need you to think, please. This could help me help you," Captain Jack pleaded, slowly stroking his cheek. He took a deep breath. He was so close to the Captain that it made him blush. The man had the most beautiful blue eyes. This man was just breath taking. He closed his eyes, trying to distract himself. He needed to remember. He needed to think. He began to hum the tune once again, hoping it would bring back something else.

"What do you see?" he heard the man ask him. It wasn't hard to figure out that he had been studying his expressions.

He clenched his eyes tightly as his mind began to show him an image, "I see a man."

"What does he look like?"

"He's an American captain, wearing glasses, neat, combed back hair…" he described, recalling the details of the man his memory had drudged up.

"What's on his name tag?"

The image started to blur and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hold the image still. He forced himself to focus on the name tag, trying to read what it said, "M…Mil...Miller." The name was familiar. His head began to pound.

"What else?" The Captain whispered as he caressed his cheek soothingly with his thumb.

He could see the man laughing as he clapped him on the back. The Welshman's mouth began to move, "I remember talking... to….him? I'm not certain on what he's saying though."

"I need you to try," the Captain pleaded. The Welshman tried but as much as he wanted to be able to remember, he couldn't. The pounding only got stronger as he tried to think back and he still couldn't tell what the conversation was about.

He gave a sigh before opening his eyes, "I'm sorry I can't remember." He was mad at himself for not being able to recall but he was more disappointed that he had let the handsome man down.

For some reason, he could not bring himself to look at the man's eyes. He half expected for the man to cast him aside for not being able to provide anything useful. What he did not expect was the Captain pulling him into a hug and placing a kiss on the top of his head. "No, you have nothing to be sorry about. You did brilliantly." The older man stated, confusing the ex-Timelord.

"I don't understand, sir," he said softly, causing the Captain to burst into laughter. "Stop laughing. I didn't help." He found himself even more confused than he was before. Was he always like this?

"On the contrary," the Captain said as he pulled away from him to make his way to some screen. He was amazed that the man in his mind was pulled onto the dark screen. "The man you're looking at is Captain Glenn Miller, but the question is, was this your man?"

"Yes!" He found himself yelling as he eagerly sat at the edge of the table. He felt stupid since for some reason he felt like he shouldn't have been so impressed with the screen and its image. It was as if he knew how to use it himself though he had no idea what it was really because a TV it wasn't.

"Well, that answers my question. I can't be exactly sure considering what you've told me, I think I know where you came from," the captain said as he turned to face him again. There was a giant smile on his face, as if he knew something that other man didn't. "You're probably from 1942 or '43 considering the fact that Glenn wasn't a Major until '44. It was also the year that he went missing. A shame too, he was a very talented man and knew just how to make you laugh. You have no idea how lucky you are for being from that era."

"Wait, you're talking like its up and gone!" the ex-Timelord panicked. He could feel his heart sink when the Captain didn't answer right away. Tears began to blur up his sight.

Jack mentally kicked himself. He had been so happy that he had found someone with whom he could share his favorite era with, he had forgotten that the same someone had just lost everything. "I'm sorry, it's in the past."

It was when the young man asked for the year that Jack felt there was a big lump in his throat. It was never easy to be the one to tell someone or something that they were no longer in their time, let alone their own planet. Jack swallowed as he quietly said, "2004." Then, he really hated himself as he watched tears start rolling down the man's face.

Jack looked at the man to see him struck with grief. "I'm so sorry," he whispered as he made his way towards the man, pulling him into an embrace. Jack held him in his arms, trying his best to soothe the man. "Everything will be alright," he whispered softly.

The Welshman didn't say anything. He just let the older man hold him, comforting him, soothing him. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours and when they had finally pulled away, the young man seemed more tired than he had before. Jack brushed his tears away, "Hey, come on, that's enough of that okay?" he said softly. "You're here, you're alright, and I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to keep you that way okay?"

All the Welshman could do was nod. He looked so young, younger than the twenty Owen had guessed earlier. He knew how the man felt. Out of place, lost, alone, and scared. "You're not alone in this, okay?" He whispered as he gave him a soft smile. "Believe me when I say I know how you feel. You see I'm far from home myself."

The Welshman let out a quivering breath as he nodded. They had remained quiet for a long while before the young man asked, "What happened to Miller?"

Jack gave a soft smile before saying, "Went missing on Dec. 16, 1944 on his way to Paris but not without leaving music to be remembered by."

"But you just said that kind of music isn't played often," The man questioned as he rubbed his eyes.

"Well not on the radio but there are still records and a band that still plays his music, 'Glenn Miller Orchestra'," Jack replied softly with a smile. He cupped the man's cheek softly as he gazed into his eyes. He could see fear in them. "Are you scared that you'll forget?"

The silence said it all. Jack got up and pulled the man to his feet. "Come with me," he ordered as he half carried the young man into his office. It seemed a bit of a mess with papers scattered everywhere. There were a lot of strange things, some which felt familiar to the once Timelord despite the fact he didn't know why. In the back, there was a phonograph with a myriad of records on the shelves beside it. Jack looked at the amazed look on the young man's face. "You can listen to these anytime you want so you can never forget."

Jack watched as the man walked over to the shelves looking over the names of familiar big bands. Jack had almost missed it but he was sure that he heard man say, "Thank you." 

E/N: *These lyrics are from the original version of the song, hence the use of "flyer" rather than "plane".


End file.
